Teach Your Children Well

Reflection on Judges 2:10-11 — 11/16/23

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. — Judges 2:10-11

Alistair Begg, pastor of Parkside Church told a story of a time he was on a train in Europe. He was seated with a mother and her 2 little girls. Because the ride was long, and it would’ve been impolite to not speak, he decided to introduce himself and be a friendly travel companion. All was fine as they played tic-tac-toe, card games, told riddles, and colored. But things grew suddenly sour when he asked them, “And what are you two learning in Sunday school?”

At this, the mother sharply interrupted before her daughters could respond, and said, “We are not imposing religion on our daughters, we’ll wait until they get older to choose for themselves!” Needless to say, the rest of the ride was awkward.

The phrase “nature abhors a vacuum” means that nature will fill any place that is supposed to be inhabited by something. The same is true of belief systems. This mother thought she was allowing her daughters to choose God on their own, but she was really choosing to keep them from God, insofar as she kept them from the place they could learn about God.

Wherever right belief about God and his ways is missing, it will be replaced with some kind of belief. And since there are only two ways to live, life and death (Psalm 1), teaching our children to know the Lord is our highest form of loving them. This is why God commanded Israel, saying:

[T]hese words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. — Deuteronomy 6:7-9

Lessons about God are caught and taught; we must be diligent in modeling and teaching, that our children will stay firmly planted on the way that leads to life.

Heavenly Father, your servant Isaiah declared, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). By your grace, enable us to teach our children diligently, in word and deed. That they may live in peace, and walk in the likeness of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

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